FC St. Pauli

...opponents Hansa Rostock: "Rostock are incredibly compact. In Dressel and Fröde, they have two holding midfielders who are very disciplined and close down the space. The centre-backs Van Drongelen, Rossbach and Malone like to keep a high line and operate in the gaps, which makes things very tight in the middle. When they win the ball, they switch the play very quickly with wide men such as Pröger and Schumacher. We can expect a team who are compact, will battle hard and look for opportunities up front. We have to try to control the game, remain patient and try not to give them too many chances to counterattack."

... the personnel: "Igor Matanović will be out for some time. I'm very sorry for him and wish him a speedy recovery. Afeez Aremu took a knock in training and his Achilles tendon is giving him pain. He was back doing running work the day before yesterday and I hope he'll at least be able to take part in some of today's training session. We're monitoring it on a daily basis. It's painful but he's on the road to recovery. It's a similar story for Eric Smith. He took part in some of the afternoon session the day before yesterday and trained individually yesterday. I assume he'll resume full training today. Betim Fazliji, Luca Zander and Adam Dźwigała also trained normally in the afternoon the day before yesterday."

...the special nature of the game: "It's a special game for the fans and we're all aware of that. I'm focusing on preparing the team as well as possible from the footballing point of view. Everything else surrounding the game will be managed by others and we, and by that I mean my coaching team and me as well as the team, would do well to concentrate on the footballing side of things."

...the performances of the substitutes at Magdeburg: "All the substitutes did a very good job, including David Otto and Maurides, of course, who adds something different to our game. I'm happy we have so many options and such a deep squad. I don't know yet how the squad will look against Rostock. I'd like to await the outcome of the two remaining training sessions. It's very important to me that the lads are eager to stake a claim in training and that's what they've done so far. It will also depend on how we choose to operate and what Rostock have to offer, how we want to play against them and what solutions on the ball we have. We'll then try to pick the team to match our best solutions."

...the result from the reverse fixture: "What's gone is gone and what's in the future is in the future. I'm concentrating on the present. We're concentrating on our process, on how we want to play football. We're doing OK in that respect. It's hard work and that's why Rostock are a big challenge. We've drawn confidence from our recent performances. The important thing is that we stay hungry and want to keep winning even after four wins to ensure no satisfaction takes hold. And that's what I'm focusing on - what can we do well here, what can we do better than against Magdeburg and how do we do that against Rostock."

...the sense of satisfaction after the last four wins: "It doesn't leave me feeling relaxed, which is a good thing because I'm always questioning myself. We're always thinking about what tweaks we need to make. We must do ourselves what we ask of the team and that's the standard I've set for me and my coaching team and I hope that transfers to the team."

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters